Medicare Advantage Plans with Fitness Programs Observe Higher Enrollments

A study conducted last month by The New England Journal of Medicine concluded that Medicare Advantage plans that offer ancillary benefits such as gym memberships witness higher enrollments viz-a-viz other plans with no subsidiary wellness features.

The study analyzed data collected from 11 Medicare Advantage plans that offer fitness benefits and 11 Medicare Advantage plans that offer no such programs. The survey compiled and researched data from 2002 to 2008 and analyzed health status of members enrolled in a plan, that didn't offer gym membership initially but later introduced gym membership under its wellness package.

The percentage of people who reported very good to excellent health status was 6.1 percentage points higher among the 755 people who enrolled in plans with gym benefits, as compared to 4,097 people who had enrolled in plans before the gym benefits were added.

On the contrary, the percentage figures for new plan enrollees - who reported physical movement limitations was 10.4% lower and enrollees who reported problems in walking was 8.1 percentage points lower - when they were compared with the number of enrollees who didn't enjoy added fitness benefits.
Among the control plans with no offered gym benefits, the variance between 1,154 new enrollees and 3,910 earlier enrollees was only 1.5% or lower for both instances. The reported general health was 4.7 percentage points' higher; physical activity limitations and difficult walking cases were 9.2 percentage points and 7.4 percentage points lower, respectively.

Gym memberships and other wellness benefits, offered under a health plan are often introduced with an aim to improve the members' health and reduce escalating healthcare costs by encouraging adherence to healthy habits. Such auxiliary health benefits assist in improved overall health of the participating plan members which in turn aid in controlling escalating premium rates.

The increased enrollments in plans with health benefits points to the fact that even slight alterations in health plan benefits can help health plans in a big way and result in increased popularity and high enrollment figures.

This particular trend has been continuing since a long time and it would be safe to infer that in 2012, even more Medicare plans will join the league of plans already offering health benefits. There has been a noticeable growth in the number of health plans that offer gym memberships which further indicates that such benefits are proving to be productive business propositions.

The wellness programs and benefits like gym memberships etc. may be offered for a number of reasons such as attracting the healthier portion of senior citizen community or retaining existing Medicare customers. Whatever may be the reasons, there is now sufficient data to prove that healthier segment of senior citizens, prefers plans that offer them wellness programs.

Soon, almost all plans operating in the Medicare market may offer at least the basic health benefits such as gym membership in addition to other wellness packages that encourage senior citizens to become more active and maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Author is a well known authority on health insurance in the US. He is currently looking to expand his expertise in Medicare Advantage Sales and Insurance quoting software available.